AFC Championship - Patriots v Chiefs

The New England Patriots will travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs on Sunday night in the AFC Championship game. Both teams are coming off impressive wins in the Divisional round where each team covered the spread. The Patriots dominated the Los Angeles Chargers 41-28. This game was not as close as the final score suggested as the Patriots had a 35-7 lead at the half. The win gave the Patriots a perfect 9-0 record at home this season meaning they went just 3-5 on the road. The Chiefs never trailed in their 31-13 blowout victory over the Indianapolis Colts. The game was played in cold and snowy conditions but the Chiefs offense remained hot.

The Patriots scored 5 touchdowns against the Chargers with only 1 coming through the air. Sony Michel had a monster game running the ball as he gained 129 yards and scored 3 touchdowns on 24 carries. Tom Brady made no mistakes as he completed 34 of 44 passes for 343 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions. His favorite target was Julian Edelman who had 9 catches for 151 yards. Defensively, they forced 2 turnovers with a fumble recovery and an interception of Philip Rivers. They shut the Chargers run game down as they allowed just 19 yards on 10 carries, which is an average of just 1.9 yards per rush. They scored 35 points in the first-half, as they scored a touchdown all 5 times they were in the red zone. They also went 5 for 6 on third downs and had only 1 penalty.

Patrick Mahomes was sacked 4 times, didn’t throw a touchdown and finished with a quarterback rating of 68.6 and the Chiefs still dominated the Colts. Mahomes completed 27 of 41 passes for 278 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. His favorite target was Travis Kelce who had 7 catches for 108 yards. They had major success running the ball as they gained 180 yards and scored 4 touchdowns. Damien Williams led the team with 129 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, they sacked Andrew Luck 3 times and recovered one of his fumbles. They struggled defending the run as the Colts gained 87 yards on just 14 carries, which is an average of 6.2 yards rush. They also dominated the time of possession battle as they had the ball for 39 minutes and 49 seconds to the Colts 20 minutes and 11 seconds.

The Chiefs will have home field advantage and are favored by 3 points. They are coming off an impressive victory where their offense and defense both played well. The fans at Arrowhead stadium didn’t mind the snow against the Colts and will be ready Sunday despite the high temperature scheduled to be 14 degrees. In Kansas City. The Patriots offense put up 41 points against a good Chargers defense without relying on Tom Brady. The Chiefs allowed the Colts to average over 6 yards per carry so they will have their hands full containing Michel.